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24 Mar 2010

Fate of gay rights group conference in Surabaya uncertain

The 4th ILGA-Asia Conference to be held in Surabaya, Indonesia this weekend has not been given the go-ahead by the police.

The Jakarta Post reports today that the Surabaya Police in East Java has decided not to issue a permit for a regional conference of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA), slated to be held from Mar 26-28.

The report quoted Adj. Sr. Comr. Sri Setyo Rahayu as saying in tempointeraktif.com that the provincial police refused to issue a permit for the event and the city police had followed suit. He added that there were also indications the conference could be “vulnerable” should it go ahead. 

Earlier, the local branches of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the highest Muslim authority, and the Muhammadiyah, the country's second-largest Muslim organisation, had objected to the conference.

Organisers said in an update last month that over 200 applications from Asia and rest of the world to attend the conference have been received.

Fridae has not been able to contact the organisers for a statement at publication time.

ILGA has held conferences in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2008; Cebu, the Philippines in 2005; and Mumbai, India in 2002.

Indonesia

Reader's Comments

1. 2010-03-24 17:28  
pity, was looking to go to mt. bromo.

surabaya's off the travel list then.
2. 2010-03-24 22:09  
Damn - I was looking forward to any resolutions from the conference. This was important.
3. 2010-03-25 05:19  
Surabaya is a WRONG WRONG choice. Bali is much better choice.

Those pesky Muslims dominate in Surabaya! Bali is much more tolerant with this issue, because Bali is not a Muslim "controlled" province.

4. 2010-03-25 11:48  
Why did the organizer of the conference announce that the event would take place in Surabaya when they hadn't gotten the permit? Surely they should've seen it coming: police and assho... I mean pious muslims going against the conference.

I agree with goodvenus: it might make more sense if it were in Bali.

Bollocks, I've never felt this discriminated by my own country.
5. 2010-03-26 10:17  
again...the religious bigots stop it all.thought Indonesia would be more open than the wayward and de-evolutionizing(i created this word,meaning backwards to the Godly levels) Malaysian government.(referring to the recent film censorship rules)...

hope this doesn't resonate to other countries.
6. 2010-03-26 19:06  
latest update, the protesters put up a demonstration at the official hotel. Heard was more than 30 of them. The police are there too.
All the GLBT people are now waiting for a chance to get evacuated and leave the hotel to somewhere else.

live from indonesia
7. 2010-04-02 02:08  
yaolo jeng, update ye.. hehe
is there any news on where is the conference move to?
surabaya was a bad bad choice.. even jakarta is not a good option.
not even bali I guess.
Indo still have a long long way to go before GLBT community is accepted by the people.
We need a wise leader that can make law protects us as minority.

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